WSP03308 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

~ ".. . . Area Manager DRAFT 2 Consultation History On December 28, 1979, the Service issued a BO for the proposed Animas-La Plata Project. It concluded that the project was not likely to jeopardize the bald eagle, pikeminnow, or razorback sucker. One of the conservation recommendations from the 1979 BO requested thorough surveys of the native fish in the San Juan River. Surveys'between May 1987 and October 1989 found 10 adult and 18 young of the year (YOY) pikeminnow and the presence of adult razorback sucker in the San Juan River (Platania et al. 1991). On February 6, 1990, Reclamation reinitiated the Animas-La Plata consultation. On May 7, 1990, the Service issued a draft BO concluding that the project would jeopardize the continued existence of the pikeminnow, but offered no reasonable and prudent alternative to the project in the draft opinion. Reclamation and the Service cooperatively developed a reasonable and prudent alternative. The Service issued a final BO on October 25, 1991, which concluded that the project, as proposed, would likely jeopardize the continued existence of the pikeminnow and razorback sucker. The clements of the reasonable and prudent alternative provided in that 80 were that Reclamation would: I) limit initial dcpletions to 57,100 acre-feet (af); 2) implement 7 years of research to determine endangered fish habitat needs; 3) operate Navajo Dam to ptovide 300,000 af/year and a wide range of flow conditions for the endangered fish); 4) guarantee that, based on the results of the research program and dependent upon the prevailing hydrology, Navajo Reservoir would be operated for the life of the Animas-La Plata Project to mimic a natural hydro graph based on the research; 5) provide legal protection for the reservoir releases instream to and through the endangered fish habitat to Lake Powell, and a commitment to develop and implement a Recovery Implementation Program for the San Juan River. The San Juan River Basin Recovery Implementation Program (SJRIP) for endangered fish species was initiated on November I, 1992. The SJRIP was intended to conserve populations of pikeminnow and razorback sucker in the San Juan River Basin consistent with the Act, and proceed with water development in the Basin in compliance with federal and state laws, interstate compacts, Supreme Court decrees, and Federal trust responsibilities to the Southern Ute, Ute Mountain, Jicarilla, and the Navajo Nations (SJRIP 1995). Reclamation requested initiation of section 7 consultation on Navajo Dam operations on June 30, 199 I. The Service responded on August 19, 1991, and agreed that the timeframe for the consultation would continue through the research period, enabling Reclamation to gather data on the endangered fish. In 1996, the Service issued a BO based on a Biological Assessment (BA) for full development of the Animas-La Plata Project. Full development consisted of a 191,230 af annual diversion and a 149,220 af annual depletion. The BO found the proposed project would likely jeopardize the continued existence of pikeminnow and razorback suckers. The elements of the reasonable and prudent alternative included: I) Only those project features that result in a maximum depletion of57,100 af(Phase I, stage A) would be constructed, until all elements of the reasonable and prudent alternative were completed. However, if Reclamation could provide a minimum winter flow out of Navajo Dam of approximately 300 cfs on a recurring basis and mimic a natural hydrograph, then Stage A could be operated with 57, I 00 af as an average annual depletion. After OUH03